Seoul
South Korea is preparing to evacuate thousands of Scouts from a coastal jamboree site amid the threat of Tropical Storm Khanun, according to officials. Starting Tuesday morning, South Korea will deploy about a thousand buses to evacuate 36,000 Scouts from 156 countries from the World Scout Jamboree in the southwestern county of Buan.
Most of the Scouts will be stationed in the country’s capital Seoul and locations in the surrounding metropolitan area. Officials are trying to secure places in government training centres and education facilities. It will take six hours or more to evacuate the Scouts from the campsite, with organizers saying it would not be used for any events after they left.
The World Organization of the Scout Movement is working to quickly remove Scouts from South Korea from the storm’s path and provide all necessary resources and support to participants during their stay and until they return to their home countries.
South Korea’s weather agency said Khanon is expected to make landfall in South Korea on Thursday morning, potentially bringing winds of 118 to 154 kilometres (73 to 95 miles) per hour. Large parts of the country’s south, including Buan, could be affected by the storm by Wednesday. President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office called for “contingency” plans that could include relocating them to hotels and other facilities in the country’s capital, Seoul, and surrounding metropolitan areas. The law has followed an unusual, zigzag path around Japan’s southwestern islands for more than a week, bringing heavy rains, knocking out power to thousands of homes and disrupting flights and train services.
Hot temperatures have already forced thousands of British and American Scouts to leave the site, which is built on land reclaimed from the sea. Hundreds of participants were treated for heat-related illnesses since the jamboree began on Wednesday. Critics raised concerns about bringing such a large number of youth to a vast, treeless area lacking protection from the heat.
